THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA FOR THE YEAR 2011 PHILADELPHIA: The Library Company of Philadelphia 1314 Locust Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107 2012 as of December 31, 2011 President B. Robert DeMento Vice President Howell K. Rosenberg Secretary Helen S. Weary Treasurer Robert J. Christian Trustees Harry S. Cherken, Jr. Martha Hamilton Morris Robert J. Christian Howell K. Rosenberg B. Robert DeMento Richard Wood Snowden Maude de Schauensee Carol E. Soltis Davida T. Deutsch Peter Stallybrass Beatrice W. B. Garvan John C. Tuten Autumn Adkins Graves Ignatius C. Wang Charles B. Landreth Helen S. Weary Gordon M. Marshall Clarence Wolf John F. Meigs Trustees Emeriti Peter A. Benoliel Susan O. Montgomery Lois G. Brodsky Charles E. Rosenberg William H. Helfand William H. Scheide Roger S. Hillas Seymour I. Toll David W. Maxey Michael Zinman Elizabeth P. McLean Director John C. Van Horne James N. Green Librarian Rachel A. D’Agostino Curator of Printed Books and Co-Director, Visual Culture Program Alfred Dallasta Chief of Maintenance and Security Erica Armstrong Dunbar Director, Program in African American History Ruth Hughes Chief Cataloger Cornelia S. King Chief of Reference Phillip S. Lapsansky Curator of African American History Cathy Matson Director, Program in Early American Economy and Society Erika Piola Associate Curator of Prints & Photographs and Co-Director, Visual Culture Program Jennifer W. Rosner Chief of Conservation Molly D. Roth Development Director Nicole Scalessa Information Technology Manager Sarah J. Weatherwax Curator of Prints & Photographs Front Cover: William L. Breton. The Residence of Washington in High Street, 1795-6. Philadelphia, ca. 1828. Watercolor. Gift of Marshall Potamkin in memory of his mother Vivian Potamkin. See pp. 68-70. TABLE OF CONTENTS REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 4 REPORT OF THE TREASURER 8 REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 10 REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN 13 Health AND MEDICINE IN THE Gifts OF WILLIAM H. 29 Helfand AND CHARLES E. Rosenberg AFRICAN AMERICANA 38 WOMEN’S HISTORY 45 Visual Culture: Historic USE OF Images IN 56 Commerce AND Recreation Report OF THE PRINT Department 63 SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION 74 APPRECIATION 88 THE JAMES RUSH SOCIETY 95 PUBLICATIONS 96 REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT In my first report as President, I am pleased to relate substantial ac- complishments at the Library Company in 2011. Yet again, Trustees, shareholders, and friends showed extraordinary generosity in their sup- port for this institution. We received a large number of valuable gifts of material, and none more so than the bequest from Robert L. McNeil, Jr., which included an unparalleled collection of early American maps. In the pages that follow, the Library Company’s esteemed curators will touch on the highlights of these gifts, so I will begin my report with financial and governance news. In 2011, we successfully met H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest’s $750,000 Chal- lenge Grant for the purchase of the Carriage House at 1319 Irving Street and raised 100% of the purchase price, paving the way for an expansion of the LCP “campus” and a much-needed increase of space for collections storage and operations. Also, through the good offices of Trustee Davida Deutsch, an anonymous donor made a gift of almost $2,350,000. The funds will support renovations to the Carriage House and create endow- ments for acquisitions in Women’s History and African American His- tory. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thanks to the good offices of Senator Dominic Pileggi, awarded the Library Company a capital grant of $1,000,000 to support much-needed renovations to the main library building. Finally, we received three gifts of $100,000 each to help fund nec- essary facilities upgrades from the McLean Contributionship, Trustee Emeritus William H. Scheide, and shareholders Nancy and Theodate Coates. In 2011, as well, a number of donors crossed the threshold of $100,000 in cumulative financial and in-kind gifts to the Library Com- pany and have been recognized with plaques at the entrance to the main building: The Abington Foundation, The Connelly Foundation, Kitty and Bob DeMento, Davida T. Deutsch, Beatrice W. B. Garvan, Howell K. Rosenberg, and Helen S. Weary. Last year was also busy in terms of Library Company governance. We welcomed six new Trustees to the Board: Nicholas D. Constan, Adjunct 4 Professor at the Wharton School of Business; John F. Meigs, Partner at Saul Ewing, LLP; Stephen P. Mullin, Senior Vice President and Princi- pal at Econsult Corporation; Maude de Schauensee, retired Fowler/van Santvoord Keeper of the Near Eastern Collections at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; Richard Wood Snowden, Manag- ing Director of Bowman Properties; and Clarence Wolf, Owner of the George S. MacManus Company. Many of these new additions to the board have long been members and supporters of the Library Company and we are delighted to have the benefit of their expertise and commit- ment on the Board of Trustees. We additionally congratulate John C. Tu- ten on his re-election to the Board for a second term. At the 2011 Annual Meeting, Beatrice Garvan stepped down as President of the Board after five years at the helm and passed the gavel to me. In honor of her distinguished service to the Library Company for more than a decade and of the longtime service of her late husband Tony Garvan prior to that, we established the Anthony N. B. and Beatrice W. B. Garvan Fellowship in Material Culture. Tony Garvan, a professor of American Civilization at the University of Pennsylvania, was a member of the Library Company’s Board for thir- ty-six years and was President from 1986 until his death in 1992. Bea, a curator of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, carried on the family tradition, joining the Board in 1999 and assuming the presi- dency in 2006. Bea’s five-year tenure as the Board’s leader saw momentous accomplishments, including the acquisition of the Carriage House and the receipt of a major endowment gift from Robert L. McNeil, Jr., both of which will help ensure the Library Company’s continuing growth and vi- tality. Together Tony and Bea have made enormous contributions to the study of American Material Culture as well as to the Library Company itself, and the Garvan Fellowship is a fitting recognition at the conclu- sion of Bea’s term as President. Trustees and family members generously contributed $40,000 to permanently endow an annual month-long resi- dency for a scholar in this field. In 2011 also, recently enacted Trustee term limits first made their effects felt. While we are pleased to be conforming with best practices in nonprofit governance, we were sorry to see some old friends rotate off the board—and, in particular, friends who have performed heroic service to 5 the Library Company over many years. In recognition of their outstand- ing contributions, we are pleased to announce that Lois Brodsky, Beatrice Garvan, Gordon Marshall, and Carol Soltis have been named emeritus Trustees. Although I suggested at the beginning of my report that I would cede all the fun of talking about new acquisitions to the curators in the pages that follow, I do want to highlight some collection news that will not be discussed elsewhere. With the generous support of the Trustees, the Li- brary Company was able to acquire and conserve portraits of Zachariah and Susannah Knorr Poulson by the eminent painter James Peale (1749- 1831). Poulson was a devoted servant of the Library Company, acting as Librarian from 1785 until 1806, Treasurer from 1806 to 1812, and Director from 1812 to1844. We had been following these portraits for a number of years since they first went on the market and are delighted to have finally been able to bring the Poulsons home. The portraits are reproduced on page 12. In addition to extensive gifts from William H. Helfand, Charles E. Rosenberg, and Clarence Wolf, which will be discussed at length in the following pages, in 2011 we received a large collection of sheet music from an anonymous donor. Numbering hundreds of pieces, the works are principally representative of the 19th-century American canon. Many feature beautiful illustrations, such as Please Let My Brother Go, which depicts a young girl pleading in front of a judge for the release of her brother. From shareholders Todd and Sharon Pattison we received ninety- eight mid-19th-century works, all with bindings in a similar decorative style but unsigned. Pattison has attributed these to the Boston book- binder Benjamin Bradley. All are subtly beautiful books and showcase the variety of binding styles that a single master could produce. Finally, last year we purchased a large engraved London broadside, Richard Whitworth’s Political Electricity; or An Historical & Prophetical Print in the Year 1770, containing thirty-one vignettes satirizing corrupt British policies and predicting economic ruin as a result. The vignettes include a man trying to paint over the “National Debt,” politicians “Play- ing at Cards with the Public Money,” and Benjamin Franklin flying a kite. By that time, Franklin had come to embody the experimenter-turned-re- 6 publican-revolutionary in British, American, and French text and visuals. In closing, I offer a brief glimpse back to 1731, when this institu- tion was founded and Ben Franklin was a sprightly twenty-five years old. He had two offspring that year: a son named William Franklin, and an inspired model for a lending library that gave ordinary working people access to knowledge and culture. Given that William Franklin supported the British in the Revolutionary War, it’s clear which of those two babies did more to contribute to democracy in America.